System and method for providing context information

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure provides a system and method of providing context information. Context information is automatically retrieved by monitoring at least one application program executable on a computing system, so as to detect an event associated with the application program, identifying information corresponding to the detected event, and retrieving, automatically without user request, context information associated with the detected event.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates to a system and method for providingcontext information associated with detected events, and moreparticularly to a system and method of recognizing occurrence of anevent in a computing system, and identifying information associated withthe event, including context information, which information can beproviding to a user.

BACKGROUND

Computers are being used more and more to retain various types ofinformation in electronic form. For example, computers can be used tostore word processing documents, spreadsheets, correspondence (e.g.,electronic mail and facsimile), contact information, calendars, instantmessages, and the like.

In a conventional computer system, information is stored in one or morefiles maintained by a file system component of the computer system. Auser can input a file name to retrieve the file (e.g., a file containinga word processing document) from the file system. However, many times auser cannot remember the file name, or even the context in which a filewas used, for example Some software applications provide a listing of alimited number of the most recent files opened by the application in alisting when a user elects to open a file, in order to provide ashortcut for use in opening a file within the software application. Ifthe file does not appear in this list, however, the user must use othermeans for identifying the file. For example, if the user remembers aportion of the file's name used to save the file, the user can searchthe file system to locate the file. A file system browse feature istypically available to the user from within a file open dialog screen,which allows the user to traverse the file system to locate the file.Alternatively, a user can use a search tool that resides on the user's“desktop”. For example, Microsoft Windows® has a search tool, whichallows the user to search based on a file's attributes, such as name,contents, location, modification date, data type. Once the file islocated, it can be displayed for the user to select, Other search toolsare available, such as the Desktop Search tool from Yahoo!®.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure seeks to address failings in the art and toprovide a system and method for providing context information.

Context information can comprise circumstantial information related to aprevious experience with an information item, for example. Contextinformation can be related to an event, e.g., in connection with anapplication program, the occurrence of which is connected to one or moreinformation items, for example. By way of a further non-limitingexample, an event, such as a process start, process stop, file (or otheritem) open, file (or other item) close, a spawned process, isidentified, and information and context associated with the event isidentified. For example, if a user is working in an electronic mailapplication, and receives an electronic mail message that has a wordprocessing document as an attachment. If the user elects to open theattachment, embodiments of the present disclosure recognize the fileopen operation as an event and broadcast a message which containsinformation about the detected event, e.g., what applications were openat the time of the event, the fact that the file was received as anattachment to an electronic mail message, the sender of the electronicmail message, the recipients of the electronic mail message, thecontents of the electronic mail message, the date of the electronic mailmessage, etc. Embodiments of the present disclosure store some or all ofthe information about the event, including context, or contextual,information. It should be apparent that the stored information can beused to subsequently identify the file. For example, the storedinformation can be used to identify a file that was received in anelectronic mail message sent by “Jane Doe”.

Context information can be used to identify an associated informationitem. By way of other non-limiting examples, context information canidentify a person or system component involved in a process start/stop,information associated with a file (or other item) that is opened orclosed, such as a file name, location, etc., information identifying acircumstance (e.g., reason) a new process is spawned, etc. The contextinformation is indexed and related to information items, such that thecontext information can be used to identify one or more informationitems.

In accordance with one aspect, context information is automaticallyretrieved by monitoring at least one application program executable on acomputing system, so as to detect an event associated with theapplication program, identifying information corresponding to thedetected event, and retrieving, automatically without user request,context information associated with the detected event.

In accordance with another aspect, a graphical user interface isprovided for displaying context information, the interface comprises adisplay window configured to present automatically without request froma user one or more information categories, each information categorycorresponding to context information providing context for displayedcontents of another display window. In accordance one or more otheraspects, the display window is displayed in response to an eventoccurring in connection with the other display window. In anotheraspect, the display window comprises a portion identifying aninformation item determined to fit a pattern, the information itemextracted from the displayed contents of the other display window. Inaccordance with this aspect, the display window includes a selection toview history corresponding to the information item and a selection toenter information corresponding to the information item. In response tothe latter selection, the display window is configured to provide atleast one input field corresponding to a type of the information itemdetermined based on a determined pattern of the information item, andthe interface includes a button to save the information item alone orwith data entered in the input fields(s).

In accordance with one aspect, context information is automaticallyretrieved by collecting context information in connection with a firstevent associated with a first application program and retrieving contextinformation associated with a second event with a second applicationprogram. Context information is collected by monitoring the at least oneapplication program, so as to detect the first event, identifyingcontextual information corresponding to the first event, and storinginformation associated with the first event, the stored informationincluding the identified contextual information. Context informationretrieval is performed by monitoring the second application program, soas to detect the second event, monitoring the second applicationprogram, so as to detect the second event, identifying informationcorresponding to the second event, and retrieving some or all of thestored information associated with the first event using contextinformation associated with the information corresponding to thedetected event.

DRAWINGS

The above-mentioned features and objects of the present disclosure willbecome more apparent with reference to the following description takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein like referencenumerals denote like elements and in which:

FIG. 1, which comprises FIGS. 1A and 1B, provides examples ofinformation displayed in accordance with one or more embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 2 provides an architectural overview in accordance with embodimentsof the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 provides examples of pattern matching expressions used in one ormore embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4, which comprises FIGS. 4A and 4B, provides examples of contextgraphs in accordance with one or more embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 5 provides an example of events and relationships based on time andpattern matches in accordance with at least one embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 6 provides an example of a processing performed in accordance withone or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7, which comprises FIGS. 7A to 7G, provide examples of displaysprovided in accordance with one or more embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 8 provides an example of a process flow in accordance with one ormore embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In general, the present disclosure system and method for recognizing,storing, and retrieving information and associated context information.

Certain embodiments of the present disclosure will now be discussed withreference to the aforementioned figures, wherein like reference numeralsrefer to like components.

In accordance with one or more disclosed embodiments, an event andassociated context information are identified and stored. By way ofnon-limiting example, an event can be a process start, process stop,file (or other item) open, file (or other item) close, new processspawned. In a case that an event identifies that a process opened afile, for example, embodiments of the present disclosure save the nameof the file, the program that opened the file, together with date andtime that the file was opened. In accordance with embodiments of thepresent disclosure, this information might supplement informationalready identified and indexed, such as that the file was received as anattachment in an email received at a certain date and time from acertain user. Embodiments of the present disclosure build an indexassociated with items, e.g., a files, applications, etc., and contextinformation associated with the information item, e.g., the file wasreceived in an email from the certain user and was opened in a wordprocessing application program on a certain date and time. By way ofadditional non-limiting examples, context information can compriseinformation identifying a person or system component involved in aprocess start/stop, information associated with a file (or other item)that is opened or closed, such as a file name, location, etc.,information identifying a circumstance (e.g., reason) a new process isspawned, etc.

In accordance with one or more embodiments, as a user interacts with asoftware application, e.g., an instant messenger or electronic mailapplication, information such as an electronic mail address or aninstant messenger identifier, phone number, postal address, messagecontent, date and/or time, etc. are identified. If the information isnew, embodiments of the present disclosure can be used to save theinformation. For example, in a case that the new information isidentified as a phone number, the information can be saved as contactinformation in an electronic address book. In addition to saving theinformation, context information can be saved. For example, informationabout how the phone number came to be identified, e.g., it was containedin a communication received by an instant messenger application programfrom another user, whose identification information can be saved ascontext information associated with the phone number. Informationidentifying the circumstances surrounding the receipt of the phonenumber (e.g., the date and time the phone number was received, the otherapplications open at the time the phone number was received) can beassociated with the contact information. This information, which isreferred to as context information, can be used to subsequently searchfor the phone number. For example, a user can search for phone numbersreceived from a certain user, or via the instant messenger application,or when a given application program was open, or at a given date andtime, or while viewing a given web site.

By way of another non-limiting example, as a user browses the web usinga browser application, embodiments of the present disclosure can detectthat a search is being performed, and can automatically provide the userwith additional search results from other search engines. In additionand in accordance with disclosed embodiments, the user can be promptedto save search results, address and phone number information, and thedetails surrounding the information in the user's address book. Inaddition to this information, context information, e.g., how the userfound the information, can be saved. The saved contextual informationcan be used to search for the saved information. For example, the usercan search for phone numbers found on the internet, addresses found on aspecific web site, or phone numbers found while using the browsersoftware application.

In accordance with embodiments disclosed herein, an indexing and searchengine is used to build an index of information items and associatedcontext information, which index can be searched to locate informationand associated context. For example, the indexing and search engine canbe used to search for recent instant messenger conversations, or recentelectronic mail messages, that were received while a given wordprocessing document was open by a word processing application. Theindexing and search engine can be invoked to perform a search requestedby the user, or it can be automatically invoked without a request fromthe user. To illustrate the latter by way of a non-limiting example, auser might receive an instant message from another user, which messageincludes information determined to be a name of a third user. Inaccordance with one or more embodiments, the indexing and search engineautomatically searches the index to locate any information associatedwith the third user, such as the third user's avatar or display image,names of files that were sent to or from the third user via email or viamessenger and appointments scheduled with the third user, for example.

FIG. 1, which comprises FIGS. 1A and 1B, provides examples ofinformation displayed in accordance with one or more embodiments of thepresent disclosure. In the example shown in FIG. 1A, a user is contactedvia an instant messenger application. Embodiments of the presentdisclosure recognize the contacting user and display a small toast, orother display window, with information associated with the user. Inaccordance with at least one embodiment, the display window isconfigured so as to be displayed automatically without request by auser. In accordance with such an embodiment, context information can beautomatically displayed to the user in connection with the display of aninstant message in a window displayed by the instant messengerapplication, for example.

Recent instant message conversations with the contacting user arelocated via the index, as well as two files, two calendar appointmentsshared with the contacting user, and links to this information aredisplayed in the toast. The contacted user has the option to click onany of the three links to see the conversations, the files or thecalendar appointments. The contacted user can also decide to find andview all the information using a more detailed display. For example,with reference to FIG. 1B, the contacted user can elect to viewadditional information, such as recent conversations, related files,calendar appointments, and recent email. In accordance with one or moreembodiments, the user can click on any of the items to see theinformation in full detail.

In accordance with one or more embodiments, contextual information canbe associated with files as well as software application programs, suchas word processing, browser, instant message, etc. softwareapplications. The contextual information can be stored as metadataassociated with, or as part of, the file or application. File andapplication access times can be tracked, as well as the manner in whichthe file or application is invoked, the application that used a file,other applications that were open while a file or application was inuse, websites visited while a file or application was in use and searchterms used to find websites and information, etc. The contextinformation can be used to locate the files and/or applications. Forexample, a phone number can be located based on a website on which theuser found the phone number (or vice versa), find a document using thename of the sender that sent the document (e.g., via an instantmessenger or electronic mail application), find a contact based on whoprovided the contact information to the user, find a file based on thesoftware applications that were open at the time the file was sent,opened, received, etc., find information based on the website from whichthe information originated, etc.

In addition and in accordance with one or more embodiments, contextinformation can be used to identify undesired or unwanted files orprograms, e.g., spyware, virus etc. For example, if a user finds asuspicious file, the user can use context information associated withthe file to determine how the file was introduced onto the user'ssystem, e.g., to determine that the file was installed when the useropened an email from an unknown sender, or visited a website unfamiliarto the user. In accordance with one or more embodiments, a spywaredetection program might access information stored in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure to determine the circumstancesunder which a program was installed on a user's computer. For example,using context information, it is possible to determine whether or notthe installation was performed by a website suspected/known to be thesource of spyware, and report this to the user.

FIG. 2 provides an architectural overview in accordance with embodimentsof the present disclosure. In accordance with one or more embodimentsdisclosed herein, system 200 operates in the background on a computingsystem, and is transparent to the computing system user. System 200comprises event queue 202, event wait list 204, context engine 206 andindexing and search engine 208. In accordance with one or moreembodiments, indexing and search engine 208 are separate components. Inaccordance with at least one embodiment, each of desktop applications210 has a corresponding event queue 202, which event queue storesmessages received from the corresponding application. Queued messagesare processed by context engine 206. Context engine 206 processes queuedmessages to identify information and relationships between theinformation (e.g., context information) to be indexed and/or stored byindexing and search engine 208. In accordance with one or moreembodiments, the information can be stored in the form of metadata.Indexing and search engine 208 can be used to retrieve indexedinformation, such as information that provides context for a given itemof information. For example, context engine 206 can store informationwhich identifies the desktop application(s) 210 open when a given filewas open using word processor 212A. In addition and in accordance withone or more embodiments, context engine 206 generates a context graph,as discussed in more detail below.

In accordance with one embodiment, a client 210 is a component separatefrom the desktop application 210, and operates in a manner transparentto the desktop application 210. Client 210 monitors a desktopapplication 212 and detects an event associated with the desktopapplication 212. If client 210 detects an event, it extractsinformation, e.g., information from the desktop application 212 andbroadcasts a message as notification to system 200 of the event. Thebroadcast message can include an event type, information identifying theitem for which context information is to be retained, and the contextinformation, for example. In accordance with at least one embodiment,the message comprises a timestamp, a unique identifier, as well as otherinformation associated with a given event (e.g., file name, content suchas document, email instant message content, email address, instantmessenger user identification). Of course, it should be apparent thatother information, as well as other levels of detail of the information,can be passed to system 200.

To illustrate by way of a non-limiting example, in a case that the eventis a “file open” event (e.g., such as might occur with word processor212A), client 210A can broadcast a message identifying the type of event(e.g., a “file open” event type), together with the name and location ofthe file opened by application 212. To further illustrate, by way of anon-limiting example, in a case that the client 210 detects a newconversation in an instant messenger application 212D, the messagebroadcast by client 210D can include a “new conversation” event,together with the name of the person initiating the new conversation. Inaddition, the message can include the contents of the message. Anothertype of event that can be detected by client 210D is a “new message”event. In such a case, the message broadcast by client 210D can includethe sender's identification as well as the contents of the message. Byway of another non-limiting example, in a case of browser application212C, client 210C can detect when the user opens a web site, and canbroadcast a message as notification of such an event, together with theuniversal resource locator (URL) for the web site. In the case of emailapplication 212B, client 210B can detect when a new email message isopened, and can forward a notification message, which includes thesender's email address, for example.

The messages from clients 210A to 210D are received into a correspondingevent queue 201, e.g., event queues 202A to 202D, and are processed bycontext engine 206. In addition, pattern matcher 218 can parseinformation associated with an event, e.g., content in a messagereceived from a client 210. Context engine 206 retrieves messages fromevent queue 202, and identifies connections between events. Events canbe tied together chronologically, by application (e.g., an event queue202 consists of events from a given desktop application 212 inaccordance with at least one embodiment), or based on a pattern ofinformation identified by pattern matcher 218, for example. As discussedabove, events are assigned a unique number, or globally uniqueidentifier (“GUID”), and each event has a timestamp, e.g., a time thatthe event's message is broadcast by client 210. System 200 can use atimestamp to connect events across applications, for example.

System 200 can request pattern matcher 218 to scan content to identify apattern (e.g., URL, postal address, phone number, etc.). In accordancewith one or more embodiments, pattern matcher 218 uses a library ofregular expressions that it accesses, and then parses receivedinformation to identify a pattern. A regular expression is a languagethat can be used to describe a pattern (e.g., phone number, zip code,date, URL, address, UPC, MP3/IP3 tag, etc.). FIG. 3 provides examples ofpattern matching expressions used in one or more embodiments of thepresent disclosure. Of course, it is recognized that one can define aregular expression, or other type of expression syntax, to find anypattern by describing the characteristics of the pattern using theexpression syntax, and that any pattern so-defined can be added to thelibrary used by the pattern matcher 218 to locate patterns. Patternsneed not be limited to text, and can include images, digital audio,digital video, for example. In accordance with one or more embodiments,pattern matcher 218 can be instructed to dynamically create a regularexpression to define a new pattern. For example, client 210 can detect acommand (e.g., a key sequence or mouse button input), which anapplication, or application user, can instruct

Pattern matcher 218 can be invoked by other than context engine 206. Forexample, client 210, or a desktop application 212, can request patternmatcher 218 to verify a piece of information, e.g., a phone numberentered via the desktop application 212. To illustrate by way ofnon-limiting example, a user can input a command (e.g., a right clickmouse button) to request the pattern matcher 218 to verify informationbased on its pattern. Alternatively, information input by the user canautomatically be verified, so that information entered by a user into aninput field can be analyzed by the pattern matcher 218 to confirm thatit has the correct format, for example.

System 200, and context engine 206, can use services 216, such as searchengine 216A and address book 216B. For example, context engine 206 canuse search engine 216A to identify context information for a giveninformation item, e.g., search engine 216A can be used to search theinterne for information associated with a sender of an email. To furtherillustrate by way of non-limiting example, an address book 216B can beused to identify an email sender's name, postal address and/or phonenumber. It should be apparent that other services 216 can be used bysystem 200.

Context engine 206 analyzes events to identify information and relatedcontext information. In accordance with one or more embodiments, contextengine 206 builds one or more context graphs based on the contents ofevent queues 202 to identify relationships and associated contexts. FIG.4, which comprises FIGS. 4A and 4B, provides examples of context graphsin accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 4A, an example of a context graph is shown, whichassociates processes spawned by other processes. More particularly,process 401, which corresponds to a windowing desktop such as MicrosoftWindows®, is the root of context graph 400. Events 402 to 404 correspondto an email program process (e.g., Microsoft Outlook®), presentationprogram process 403 (e.g., Microsoft PowerPoint®), instant messengerprogram process 404 (e.g., Yahoo!® Messenger) and browser programprocess (e.g., Microsoft Internet Explorer®) being spawned. Contextengine 206 determines, using event queues 202, that email programprocess spawned in event 402 spawned browser program process, whichresulted in event 406, as well as word processor program process(e.g.,Microsoft Word®), which resulted in event 408, and that the browserprogram process associated with event 406 spawned a word programprocess, which resulted in event 409. In addition, context engine 206can determine, using context graph 400, that event 404 corresponds to aninstant messenger program process being spawned, which instant messengerprogram process spawned browser program process, which resulted in event410, that the browser program process spawned zip program process (e.g.,Microsoft WinZip) associated with event 411, and that browser programprocess associated with event 405 spawned a document reader programprocess (e.g., Adobe Acrobat®), which resulted in event 412. In additionand using context graph 400, context engine 206 can determine whatapplication programs are open at a given time. Thus, for example, it ispossible for context engine 206 to determine what applications are openwhen an email is opened by email program process 402.

In accordance with disclosed embodiments, context engine 206 candetermine relationships between events occurring in different desktopapplications, and identify context information associated with therelated events.

FIG. 4B provides an example of a context graph 420 which identifiesevents associated with spawned processes and items (e.g., files, emails,web pages, etc.) manipulated by the spawned processes. Events 421 and422 correspond to an email program process and a browser program processbeing spawned from desktop 401. Email program process of event 421 opensan email, “email opened” event 423, spawns a word processor programprocess (which corresponds to event 424), opens another email (whichcorresponds to event 406), spawns browser program process (whichcorresponds to event 427) and opens a third email (which corresponds toevent 431). Word processor program process (corresponding to spawnedprocess event 424), opens a document, “someFile.doc” (which correspondsto event 425). Browser program process (which corresponds to event 427),is used to view web pages (“open email” events 426 and 429), anddownload a zip file (“download file” event 430). Browser program process(“spawned process” event 422) is used to access a web site (event 435),view web pages, (events 433 and 434) and download “file.pdf” (event432). Context graph 420 can be used by context engine 206 to identifythat events associated with email program process 421 and word processorprogram process 424, for example, are related, and that “somefile.doc”opened via word processor program process 424 is related to email 423opened by email program process 421.

In accordance with one or more embodiments, context engine 206 canassociate events in one or more events queues, and can relate events anditems across desktop applications 212. More particularly, in accordancewith one or more embodiments, context engine 206 determinesrelationships between events and items corresponding to differentdesktop applications, using one or more context graphs, e.g., contextgraph 420, and an event wait list (“EWL”) 204 of FIG. 2.

For example, when email program process (event 421) spawns wordprocessor program process (event 424), e.g., in response to the userselecting a link from within an email message (e.g., which correspondsto “email open” event 423), the client 210 associated with email programprocess (event 421) notifies context engine 206, by way of an “eventwaiting” notification. In response to the “event waiting” notification,an entry is created in EWL 204 which indicates that context engine 206should expect to receive a “file open” event from a word processorprogram process, e.g., word processor program process (event 424)spawned by email program process (event 421), in connection with theopening of the “someFile.doc” file (event 425). When a word processorprogram process (event 424) is spawned in response to operationsoccurring in connection with the email program process (the spawning ofwhich corresponds to event 421), the email program's client 210 forwardsthe “spawned process” event (event 424) to its event queue 202. When theclient 210 associated with word processor program process sends an eventmessage notifying context engine 206 of the occurrence of an “open file”event (event 425) in connection with the word processor program process(“spawned process” event 424), which event is stored in event queue 202,context engine 206 can relate the “open email” event 423 with the “openfile” event 425 using the “event waiting” EWL 204 entry, and canassociate the “someFile.doc” file 425 with email 423.

In addition and by way of a non-limiting example, context engine 206 canfurther relate information contained in the email (“open email” event423) with the “someFile.doc”, as well as information for which patternmatcher 218 has identified a valid pattern (e.g., a valid sending emailaddress). Context engine 206 can use index and searching engine 208 toretrieve additional information (e.g., name, address, company, phonenumber, etc.) of the sender based on the sending email address, e.g.,using address book 216B, for example. In addition, context engine 206can retrieve information from the subject line of the email 423, and/orthe body of the email 423, for association with the file 425.

To further illustrate, by way of non-limiting example, context engine206 can use EWL 204 to determine that the “myDownload.zip” file(“download file” event 430) was downloaded as a result of email (event426) being opened, browser program process being spawned (event 427),and web pages being opened (events 428 and 429). For example, when theclient 210 associated with spawned email program process (event 421)detects that a user has selected a hyperlink to a web page, client 210can send an event message corresponding to this event, as well as an“event waiting” message to notify context engine that it should expectan “open web page” event from a browser program process spawned by theemail program process. In addition, the client associated with thespawned browser program process (“spawn process” event 427) detectsevents corresponding to viewing web pages 428 and 429 and downloading“myDownload.zip” file 430, and forwards these events to event queue 202.The EWL 204 entry created in response to the “event waiting” message canbe used in connection with the contents of the event queues of the emailand browser program processes to associate the web pages 428 and 429 andthe “myDownload.zip” file with email 426. Of course, as previouslydiscussed, other context information (e.g., sender, subject, emailmessage, etc.) can be extracted from the email 426 for additionalcontext information. Indexing and search engine 208 can be used to storeassociations between the context information and the spawned programsand/or items to which the context information is associated. By way ofanother non-limiting example, context engine 206 can use EWL 204 todetermine that the “file.pdf” was downloaded as a result of browserprogram process being spawned (event 422), a web site being accessed(event 435) and web pages being visited (events 433 and 434).

Embodiments of the present disclosure can associate context informationbased on time and/or patterns. FIG. 5 provides an example of events andrelationships based on time and pattern matches in accordance with atleast one embodiment of the present disclosure. In accordance with oneor more embodiments, a timestamp is associated with events in eventqueues 202. The timestamp can identify the time that an event was sentby client 210 to system 200, for example. Of course, in addition to, oras a replacement for, such a timestamp, it should be apparent that oneor more other timestamps can be associated with an event. Each ofcolumns 510 to 517 correspond to a time T₁ to T₈, respectively, of anevent, and each of rows 521 to 523 correspond to an application. Forexample, event A₁P₁, in row 520 and column 510, occurred at time T₁.Event A₁P₁ comprises elements 501 to 503, which identify theapplication, “A” (e.g., word processor, instant messenger, browser,etc.), event identifier, “1”, and a pattern identifier, “P₁”.

In the example shown in FIG. 5, each event has a corresponding pattern,P_(n), which is identified by pattern matcher 218. In accordance with atleast one disclosed embodiment, pattern matcher 218 has identified thepatterns for each of events 506, 507, 508 and 509. Using thisinformation, context engine 206 determines that events 506, 507, 508 and509 are related. In the example, it is assumed that applications “A”,“B” and “C” correspond to instant messenger, word processing and emailprograms, respectively, and that patterns P₃ and P₁₁ correspond to anemail address and a file name. In addition, it is assumed for the sakeof this example, that event A₂, B₂, B₄ and C₃ correspond to an instantmessage being received, a document file being opened, the document filebeing saved, and an email message being sent, respectively.

Using this information, context engine 206 can determine that an emailaddress sent by an instant messenger user, whose instant messengeridentifier (e.g., which has a pattern P₅) is captured from event A₂, isused to send, in event C₅, a file, which was opened and then saved viaevents B₂ and B₃, respectively, to the email address received in eventA₂. Context engine 206 can use the timeline shown in row 520 to identifya sequence of the events. In addition, the timeline can be used toexpand or narrow the scope of the associations made by context engine206. For example, based on a detected pattern, P₅, of information, aninstant messenger identifier is associated with event A₇. If the instantmessenger identifier is the same for both events A₂ and A₇, contextengine 206 can create an association to indicate that the user sent amessage to the sender of the email message at time T₇, and further thatthe message included some reference to the file identified using thefile name pattern P₁₁. However, context engine 206 can be limited to apredefined time span, which may exclude time T₇, in order to conserveresources, for example. In such a case, context engine 206 would capturethe association between events 506 to 509, but not the associationbetween events 506 to 509 and event 518. Of course, expansion/reductionof the time span used by context engine 206, as well as other parameterswhich can be used to expand or reduce the scope of examination performedby context engine 206, are trade offs, which can be based on an enduser's desire to conserve resources, e.g., processing bandwidth and/ormemory/disk space.

FIG. 6 provides an example of a processing performed in accordance withone or more embodiments of the present disclosure. The processing, whichcan be performed by system 200, is in response to a user opening anemail which contains a phone number, as shown in event block 602. Inresponse to the event, pattern matcher 218 parses the email to identifyinformation that has a phone number pattern and information having auser identification (e.g., user name) pattern. Context engine 206 usesthe information identified by pattern matcher 218 to find relatedinformation using information location tools 606.

In the example shown, a data index 609 can include data stored in alocal repository (e.g., memory of the user's computer, or accessible viaa local area network), as well as remotely stored data (e.g., datastored on a remote server accessible via the internet). Context engine206 uses a local index/search tool 607 to retrieve related informationfrom a local repository. In addition, context engine 206 uses an intemetsearch engine 608 to conduct one or more web/internet searches. Theresulting data index 609 includes the phone number contained in theemail opened by the user, together with information identifying thefirst time the user received email containing the identified phonenumber and identification of the individual that sent the phone numberto the user. In addition, context engine 206 can be used to retrieveinformation about the email sender (e.g., address, phone number, filesrecently shared with the sender, dates and/or content of recent instantmessenger conversations with the email sender, dates and/or content ofrecent emails with the sender, recent phone calls with the sender, notestaken in connection with the sender, and the sender's picture. Furtherstill, context engine 206 can be used to conduct a web search toretrieve additional information based on information contained in thedata index 609 (e.g., the sender's phone and/or email address). Theinformation identified by context engine 206 can be displayed to theuser at block 605.

In addition, context engine 206 can be used to store any new informationin data index 608. For example, if information is retrieved from a websearch which is not included in the local repository, context engine 206can be used to save the information to data index 609. In accordancewith one or more embodiments, the user is given an option to save someor all of the new information, as part of the user interface displayedin block 605.

FIG. 7, which comprises FIGS. 7A to 7G, provide examples of displaysprovided in accordance with one or more embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Display portion 700 is part of an instant messenger programuser interface, which displays a portion of an instant messengerconversation. Instant message 701 requests an individual's phone number,and a reply instant message 702 provides a phone number. In accordancewith embodiments of the present disclosure, pattern matcher 218 is usedto recognize the phone number contained in instant message 702. Display703 is provided by system 200, which alerts the user, in display portion704, that a new phone number was found in instant message 702, andallows the user the option of viewing the history associated with thenew phone number and/or entering additional information, e.g., a nameand address associated with the phone number, in portion 706. Inresponse to entry of contact information associated with the phonenumber, system 200 performs a query using index/search tool 208, anddisplays recent history in portion 705, e.g., recent instant messengerand email messages.

Referring to FIG. 7B, a dialog box 710 is displayed by system 200 inresponse to an address being entered in an input field of a web pagedisplayed by a browser program, which address is entered to retrieve amap, for example. Pattern matcher 218 is used to identify the input asan address. Recognizing that the address was entered in a context of aweb page provided by a “mapping” web site, system 200 provides dialogbox 710, which provides the user with an opportunity to save the addressin an address book, obtain and/or save driving directions. In addition,system 200 provides the user with an opportunity to conduct anothersearch using the address information input to find local restaurants.

In accordance with one or more embodiments, system 200 can recognize asearch query entered by the user, use the user's query as input toanother search engine, and compare the results of the latter search withthat of the former. Dialog box 720 can then be displayed to notify theuser that there are additional search results available, as well as toallow the user to save the search.

FIG. 7D provides an example of a pull-down menu that is displayed bysystem 200 in response to detection of phone number input in a wordprocessing program in accordance with one or more embodiments of thepresent disclosure. Pattern matcher 218 of system 200 is used torecognize the input as matching a phone number pattern. In response,system 200 displays menu 731, which provides the user with an option toadd the phone number to the user's address book.

FIGS. 7E to 7G provide examples of displays provided in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 7E, display 740is provided by system 200 in association with a browser program, forexample, and provides historical information associated with a given webpage/site URL, e.g., last time the user visited the web page, as well asother web pages visited, instant messenger conversations held, emailsreceived, emails sent, and other files opened, during the user'svisit(s) to this web page. In addition, display 740 identifies the webpage that was visited just prior to the user's visit to the current webpage. The other times that the user visited this web page in the lastthirty days is also provided in display 740.

Referring to FIG. 7F, display 750 is provided by system 200 in responseto email received from the sender of a given email, for example, andprovides a history of communications (e.g., other emails received fromthe sender, web pages associated with URLs received from the sender andinstant messenger conversations with the sender) with the email senderin the last thirty days, files shared with the sender in the last thirtydays, results of a network search (e.g., local and/or web search) usingthe sender's information (e.g., name, email address, etc.), andinformation retrieved from the user's address book using the sender'sinformation.

FIG. 7G provides an example of a display 760 which is displayed bysystem 200 in connection with a word processing program. Display 760identifies the last time the user worked on the file, as well as webpages visited, instant messenger conversations held, emails sent andreceived, and other files opened the last time the user opened thecurrent file. In addition, display 760 identifies the other times theuser worked on the file in the last thirty days. Display 760 identifiesother users with which the file has been shared, and the file's origin(e.g., the file was received via an email from another user on thespecified date and time).

FIG. 8 provides an example of a process flow in accordance with one ormore embodiments of the present disclosure. At step 801, a determinationis made as to whether an event is to be processed, or a search is to beperformed by system 200. To process events, processing proceeds to step804 to determine whether any of queues 202 have events queued forprocessing by system 200. If not, processing continues at step 801. Ifthere is at least one queue 202 that contains an event to be processed,processing continues to identify the next queue to be processed, and toensure that the next queue has events remaining to be processed, atsteps 805 and 806. If the selected queue 202 has at least one event tobe processed, processing continues at step 807 to retrieve the eventfrom the queue 202. At step 808, pattern matcher 218 of system 200 isused to detect any patterns in the information processed. At step 809, adetermination is made whether or not there are any events waiting forthe queued event, using EWL 204. If so, processing continues at step 810to process the EWL 204 entry. In either case, processing then continuesat step 801 to process another action. In a case that the action is asearch to be performed using system 200, processing continues at step802 to perform the search using index/search tool 208, and to displaythe results of the search for the user at step 803. Processing continuesat step 801 to process any remaining actions.

Embodiments of the present disclosure can be platform specific orplatform independent (e.g., Macintosh, Microsoft or Unix platforms).

In accordance with one or more embodiments, desktop applications 212communicate with system 200 via clients 210 using any inter-processcommunication (IPC) mechanism. Examples of IPC mechanisms can include,without limitation, sockets, message queues, COM message exchange,and/or message posts to threads. Using an IPC mechanism and inaccordance with one or more embodiments, desktop applications 212, canbroadcast, via clients 201, information (e.g., events, contextinformation, file contents and other information associated with files,etc.) to be indexed by system 200. In addition, using an IPC mechanism,desktop applications 212 can receive a message from system 200 toconfirm that the information was successfully received and indexed bythe system 200. In accordance with one or more embodiments, the messagescommunicated between desktop applications 212 and system 200 areformatted in XML.

Using an IPC mechanism, a desktop application 212, and its correspondingclient 201, can broadcast information about files that are opened,closed, and when new applications are spawned, as well as any othercontext information, for example. As discussed above, such messages canbe stored in event queues 202. In response to such messages, system 200processes the received messages and identifies information as contextinformation. In accordance with one or more embodiments, context engine206 tags the context information with a timestamp and the applicationfrom which the information originated, and index and searching engine208 stores the context information, so that it can be subsequentlysearched.

In accordance with one or more embodiments, context information, as wellas other information, received from a desktop application 212 andprocessed by system 200 can be rebroadcast to one or more services 216registered with system 200.

In addition, as discussed above, information received from desktopapplications 212 can be passed to pattern matcher 218 to determinewhether the received information matches a predefined pattern known topattern matcher 218 (e.g., phone number, postal address, email address,URL, etc.). If any information matching one or more predefined patternsis found, the information can be identified to services 216 as a type ofinformation based on the matched patterns. The information forwarded toservices 216 can be formatted in XML.

In accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure,services 216 can be add-ons to system 200, which can operate to takeinformation, e.g., context information, and process it so as to return aresult. System 200 can then take the result and forward the result toone or more of the desktop applications 212 registered to receive thetype of result generated by services 216. For example, a desktopapplication 212 can register itself with system 200 to receive internetsearch engine results, postal addresses, etc. In accordance with one ormore embodiments, such information forwarded to desktop applications 212is formatted in XML.

While the apparatus and method have been described in terms of what arepresently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments,it is to be understood that the disclosure need not be limited to thedisclosed embodiments. It is intended to cover various modifications andsimilar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the claims,the scope of which should be accorded the broadest interpretation so asto encompass all such modifications and similar structures. The presentdisclosure includes any and all embodiments of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method executable by at least one computingsystem of automatically retrieving context information comprising:monitoring at least one application program executable on the computingsystem, so as to detect an event associated with the applicationprogram; identifying information corresponding to the detected event;and retrieving, automatically without user request, context informationassociated with the detected event.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinsaid step of monitoring is transparent to the at least one applicationprogram.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing theretrieved context information to a user of the at least one applicationprogram.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the retrieved contextinformation is presented in a display to the user.
 5. The method ofclaim 4, wherein the display is an initial display which provides asummary of the retrieved context information, such that the initialdisplay can be expanded to include details associated with the retrievedcontext information.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step ofidentifying further comprises: examining the information correspondingto the detected event to identify at least one pattern; and extractingfrom the information at least one information item corresponding to anidentified pattern.
 7. A graphical user interface for displaying contextinformation, the interface comprising: a display window configured topresent automatically without request from a user one or moreinformation categories, each information category corresponding tocontext information providing context for displayed contents of anotherdisplay window.
 8. The interface of claim 7, wherein the display windowis displayed in response to an event occurring in connection with theother display window.
 9. The interface of claim 7, wherein eachinformation category represents a summary of one or more contextinformation items, and wherein the display window further comprises aselection to view the one or more context information items in moredetail.
 10. The interface of claim 7, wherein the display window furthercomprises a portion identifying an information item determined to fit apattern, the information item extracted from the displayed contents ofthe other display window.
 11. The interface of claim 10, wherein thedisplay window further comprises a selection to view historycorresponding to the information item and a selection to enterinformation corresponding to the information item.
 12. The interface ofclaim 11, wherein the display window is configured to display historicalinformation corresponding to the information item in response to theselection to view history.
 13. The interface of claim 11, wherein thedisplay window is configured to provide at least one input fieldcorresponding to a type of the information item determined based on adetermined pattern of the information item.
 14. The interface of claim13, further comprising a button to save the information item alone ortogether with data entered in the at least one input field.
 15. A methodexecutable by at least one computing system of automatically retrievingcontext information comprising: collecting context information inconnection with a first event associated with a first applicationprogram, said step of collecting comprises: monitoring the at least oneapplication program, so as to detect the first event; identifyingcontextual information corresponding to the first event; and storinginformation associated with the first event, the stored informationincluding the identified contextual information; retrieving contextinformation associated with a second event with a second applicationprogram, said step of retrieving context information comprising:monitoring the second application program, so as to detect the secondevent; identifying information corresponding to the second event; andretrieving some or all of the stored information associated with thefirst event using context information associated with the informationcorresponding to the detected event.
 16. The method of claim 14, furthercomprising retrieving additional stored information using at least oneinformation item of the retrieved information associated with the firstevent.
 17. A computer-readable medium having embodied therein a computerprogram for executing a method of automatically retrieving contextinformation, the method comprising: monitoring at least one applicationprogram executable on the computing system, so as to detect an eventassociated with the application program; identifying informationcorresponding to the detected event; and retrieving, automaticallywithout user request, context information associated with the detectedevent.
 18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein said stepof monitoring is transparent to the at least one application program.19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprisingproviding the retrieved context information to a user of the at leastone application program.
 20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19,wherein the retrieved context information is presented in a display tothe user.
 21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein thedisplay is an initial display which provides a summary of the retrievedcontext information, such that the initial display can be expanded toinclude details associated with the retrieved context information. 22.The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the step ofidentifying further comprises: examining the information correspondingto the detected event to identify at least one pattern; and extractingfrom the information at least one information item corresponding to anidentified pattern.
 23. A computer-readable medium having embodiedtherein a computer program for executing a method of automaticallyretrieving context information, the method comprising: collectingcontext information in connection with a first event associated with afirst application program, said step of collecting comprises: monitoringthe at least one application program, so as to detect the first event;identifying contextual information corresponding to the first event; andstoring information associated with the first event, the storedinformation including the identified contextual information; retrievingcontext information associated with a second event with a secondapplication program, said step of retrieving context informationcomprising: monitoring the second application program, so as to detectthe second event; identifying information corresponding to the secondevent; and retrieving some or all of the stored information associatedwith the first event using context information associated with theinformation corresponding to the detected event.